A Multi-Fandom Series of The 1960's

Tag Archives: first year

I’m still working on new material, but I’m also reveling in the joy of letter-writing once more. It’s home to me and much of this web-log shows that very easily. The entries are often as though I am writing letters to the known and unknown people reading it.

I’m putting together another retrospective for June of 2017. It’s turning out to be very long. I’m not really worried about that because there are some podcasts out there I have listened to over the years that can reach up to 2-3 hours in length. This one I am creating shouldn’t be that long, but I’m not worried about the length because, from what I’ve gathered, a lot of people online like to waste time which means they have plenty of time to spend on something worth listening to, even if they have to pause and come back later to hear it.

Meanwhile I’m viewing the First Year of Dark Shadows. My husband and I were still in the Bill Malloy area for Memorial Day Weekend. In the earlier part that still shows Bill Malloy alive, Carolyn Stoddard meets Burke Devlin at The Collinsport Inn coffee shop to see Burke reading a book. I made a joke that, since Burke Devlin’s initial story is based on an Alexander Dumas tale, that he was reading “The Count of Monte Cristo”.

I sure burst out laughing. I had to explain a bit of why, and how my joke was spot-on, to my sweetheart.

I believe the writers might have wanted to educate the audience about what they were viewing. If that sunk in with anyone, who knows?

On my own I am going through the introduction of Laura Murdoch Collins. It’s an absolute gas! The metaphors are so blatant they have her hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, and people are lighting matches and staring into them intently.

For my Laura time period viewing there is a lot of soapy silliness. Burke getting a big smooch from Carolyn and then wandering over to the Morgan cottage to try the same thing with Laura. Roger bursting in with a shotgun and staking some claim while Laura complains they are behaving like they did ten years ago.

I don’t why but I really like this Laura Collins! She’s got horrible intentions, I know, I know. But she isn’t blustering around with a rifle and screaming at people. She was also averse to Burke’s wooing and rightly so. The dude’s already courting another blonde in the family. Gross!

But then we have this lovely morning with Victoria Winters and Mrs. Collins. Something about it is pleasant and agreeable.

Miss Winters tells David’s mother how she finds David to be sensitive and more intelligent than most children. Laura’s motherly appeal looks genuine. I know… it’s probably nothing near that, I know, but the sense of, well… warmth, without exactly meaning to make a pun of these things, is right there. (happy smile)

And I got some goodies about Laura being in a sanatorium holding on to the locket Roger gave her on their wedding night, which is a family heirloom and contains a lock of David’s baby hair. Many significant details of the outside world to get her through her time of mental duress.

Plenty of lovely scenes at the Evans Cottage which is absolutely wonderful considering how much I care about Sam and Maggie, scary painting possessing Sam or not. ❤

Also various empty moments witnessing a telephone ringing in a vacant room as Sheriff Patterson desperately dials numbers from a phone booth. Funniest bit was Roger and Burke going machismo at each other in The Blue Whale as Sam gets to be the intimate audience to the whole male-posturing scenario, which Carolyn later interrupts in her breezy way. Sam ends the evening to leave by saying, “I think I’ve filled my quota…” No kidding, Pop! XD

But for the serious, the upcoming podcast will break down what’s up with me, going through a few more old episodes of The Pit and various means of putting it together, similar to the last retrospective but with more details as the episodes increased in length.

Moreover, the understanding that my addressing the internet and 21st century gadgets creating flawed faculties in society at large has always been important. All the arguing over the years at me to share my very hard work without feedback was extremely nonsensical, while encouraging depletion of social skills and wherewithal.

There are so many things that have happened that I did not condone and, in good conscious, I never can approve of. If society at large is regressing into laziness and grade school mentality, while many still harness the angst of adolescence and adulthood, there is nothing to encourage about that. It is like training people to become autistic and we have enough work to do with people who are already born autistic. A brother of mine has autism and is low-functioning. He was born that way. It is not a condition that is easy to handle or care for. It is a full and overtime job. I do not wish this disability for anyone and I am against allowing others to sink into such a state by environment.

Whatever disabilities one might have should not exist as an excuse but a challenge. One might consider me disabled because I do not drive. However, I live with that challenge on a daily basis and am extremely grateful when I receive the help of transportation that I cannot provide for myself.

Has anyone questioned if I was given the proper guidance and instruction to reach that form of “independence”? Do drivers recall how very much it takes to gain that freedom so many adhere as a duty instead? Many people are involved in that privilege for an individual to become a licensed driver. No one person becomes a motorist on their own. It takes community and several exhausting hoops to jump through.

Attempting to become a driver myself taught me something very important, indeed.

Independence is very often an illusion. Human beings are dependent on each other.